Richard Murray Blog:

In business we all despise those repetitive manual processes which although are necessary can be a drain on resources which could otherwise be utilised for better return. From marketing to client accounts; automation can be used to the advantage of all estate agency departments.

A degree of automation will exist in most estate agency software applications however when it comes to certain processes a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not necessarily work. Each estate agency will want to customise their processes in some way whether its chasing rent arrears or sending property alerts by text or email. Given the flexibility of deciding how and when to communicate with your contacts you will be able to fit around your target market and contact demographics.

I am often confronted with the objection to automation that it reduces an estate agency’s ability to provide a personal service and reduce one to one communication. I think automation can facilitate improved communication by minimising the amount of time spent on repetitive business processes and allowing for more time to prospect for new landlords and owners whilst nurturing existing relationships.

At Eurolink we have been big fans of automation for many years now and we find that by delivering automation within our Veco™ products which fit around our clients requirements has paid dividends. One of the most frustrating things is to see an estate agency collating their weekly and monthly statistics manually from various systems and diaries. With a one-system approach all the stats are in the database, you just need to decide what statistics you want, in what format, delivered to who you want, when you want!

As a software house automation provides the prospect of a fast return on investment with measurable savings and what client wouldn’t want that.